Thursday, February 13, 2014

I've been in the design industry for more than 7 years now. During this time I've met and worked with hundreds of Cape Towns creatives. Each one adding their own little bit of magic to help build our reputation as the design capital of the world.None of them quite inspired me as much as creative rockstar Driekie van Biljon.I met Driekie a couple of years ago and even though she stands out as a graphic designer in the corporate industry ( proven by some well known companies fist fighting to acquire her talent ) it was the designs that she did at home that made me realise that I was in the presence of a truly talented artist. We asked Driekie a couple of questions about her inspirations, loves and food preferences ( just because we can ).F ) Who are you and what do you do?D )To pay the bills, I am a graphic designer from 7 to 3. Any other time I can find I would love to be known as an artist! So I like to call myself an artistic graphic designer.F ) How long have you been drawing / designing / illustrating / making pictures?D )Since primary school my favourite subject was art. In high school I attended extra mural art classes. And after school I studied graphic design. F ) What inspires you?D ) Everything!!! A new set of pencils. Weird, interesting people. FEET. Children’s drawings. Blogs. Cool paper. OWLS. A blank canvas. TATTOOS. Art galleries. Nail polish. Nature. Textures.F ) What are you working on at the moment?D ) Paintings about phobias... I find phobias super exciting and interesting.F ) Top 5 projects that you’ve done.D )a) I helped design the South African coat of arms. It is super cool to know that I was part of such a major design that would be part of history one day. b) I participated in a First Paper House paper sculpture competition and I was one of the winners. c) I participated in a Red Bull sculpture competition and I was one of the winners. d) I participated in a herb garden design for a extra small kitchen and I was one of the finalists. e) My Toothmonsters!!! I came up with the toothmonster idea and made the monsters myself. Each one has its own look and personality and before I start I have no idea what the final character would look like. F ) Your favourite artists?D ) Anyone with a twisted life story or weird personality. Someone who is not influenced by society and mass production.F ) What wouldn’t you do without?D ) Music!F ) What kind of music do you listen to?D ) My favourite cd at the moment is “The perks of being a wallflower”... I am totally in love with it. And if I have to list any of my other favourites, the list would be endless... Postal Service, Joy Division, The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Two Door Cinema Club, Young the Giant, Bob Dylan, REM, Mew, John Lennon, Editors, Mark Knopfler, Death Cab for Cutie, Pearl Jam, Archade Fire, The Cure, The Shins, Mumford and Sons, Eddie Vedder, New Order, David Bowie, The Smiths, Cracker, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison... And that is just to mention a few...F ) Favourite medium to work with or favorite style?D ) I like mixing mediums. Acrylic - glue - charcoal - paper - more glue - varnish - pencil...F ) Pizza or Sushi?D ) Pizza

F ) What do you dislike about the art/design world?D ) Copy cats. It doesn’t really matter in design as everyone steals ideas from everyone anyway!F ) What makes you angry?D ) Unfairness. F ) What superpower would you like to have and why?D )I would love to be able to teleport. Imagine... Shopping in New York in your lunch hour. No traffic. Never late...F ) Professionally, what’s your goal?D ) I would love to teach art and design to school children.F ) Something you love?D ) My husband... for giving me a beautiful child.F ) What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?D ) Solve any problem today, the quick and easy way. Worry about the consequences another day.F ) Cream Soda or Slush Puppy?D )Cream SodaF ) Paris or Disney World Orlando?D ) ParisF ) Where would you like to be in 5 years from now?D )I am not planning anything hectic for the next 5 years. If I can be happy, healthy and surrounded by special friends and family I would appreciate it. (BE FAMOUS!!!)F ) Anything else that you would like to mention.D ) Make time for creative projects even though you don’t think that you are creative. You will be surprised!!!

We've had the privilege of having Driekie as part of the Fdesign team on numerous projects. From event poster designs to corporate and wedding invitation and stationery design. You can also find one of her other projects/hobbies on the Skribbel site http://www.skribbel.co.za/Skribbel-gids.htmlWe're always looking forward to see what she comes up with next. Be sure to keep an eye out for one of the many projects of this award winning artist. Somehow you always walk away feeling like a better person.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

In our industry we are truly blessed to be able to meet these kind of people on a regular basis. We do not only find this in our clients, each one off on their own journey, but also in the amazing people we get to work with on a daily basis.One of these amazing gems we found in the young illustrator, Gabby Correia - NightshadeBerry.I met her a couple of years ago and since then she has evolved from a great illustrator to a magnificent artist.Gabby is a digital illustrator and painter based in the Northern Suburbs of the Western Cape, South Africa.

Although she's only been working as an illustrator for the last 3 years her work has already been admired all over the world.A quick search on Google for NightshadeBerry, reveals that samples of her masterpieces can be found all over the web.We asked Gabby about her inspirations, current projects and tried to pick her brain a bit to get to the inner secrets of what makes a great artist.F )What inspires you?G )I find inspiration in everything around me. Just about anything that gets my imagination flowing. Books, Movies, Inspirational artwork.Sometimes when I fall out of inspiration I try to learn working with a new medium or style, that usually gets me excited again.F )What are you working on at the moment?G ) A comic book for Trolyhood productions Called 'HASH, I can't reveal too much about it just yet. "Featuring a curious weave of mostly true and largely unknown accounts of human trafficking, drug smuggling and gun running in Africa."F ) Your favourite artists/illustrator?G ) Almost too many to mention. I'm a huge fan of Norman Rockwell's paintings and illustrations. The character and expression he portrays in his paintings are so inspirational. Digital artist I like are Serge Birault (AKA Papaninja), I love his modern take on caricature art, also Dave Rapoza, Stanley Lau (Artgerm)

F ) Favorite medium to work with or favorite style?G ) My main medium I work in is digital. I work in photoshop with a graphics tablet. When I paint in this method I have a wide variety of styles, realistic, caricature, comic, cartoon, horror, fantasy, etc. From time to time I like to break away from digital and get back to my roots which is sketching with graphite pencils and charcoal, with this medium I like to get as close to photo realism as I have patience for.F ) What superpower would you like to have and why?G ) Super Speed! Sometimes there's just not enough hours in the day, you know?F ) What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?G ) Observation is key. You can draw anything, but you must observe it first.F ) What wouldn’t you do without?G ) Coffee, chocolate and a sketchbook.F ) In your oppinion, what makes illustration different to graphic design?G ) Illustration is telling a story or communicating an idea through art. Graphic design is for the masses, drawing in the target market and describing the product or look and feel of a company. Illustration is emotional and decorative while Graphic design is functional and practical

From cartoons, professional adverts, book illustrations, band logo designs, coporate id designs to t-shirt designs this innovative and still evolving artist is quickly starting to cement her name in the industry.Working mostly behind the scenes and letting her creations do the talking for her, this modest artist remains an inspiration to all that have had the priviledge to view her work. If you need a illustration or design that is truely unique and stands out above the rest be sure to contact us with your brief.To view more of her work go to the illustration page on our website.